Racing around the world for charity

Asthmatic and 30 pounds overweight, Joe Rios never imagined he’d one day be a runner. When a friend lobbed the challenge of tackling the half-marathon at Ottawa’s Army Run more than three years ago, he needed convincing.

“I was not a runner at all. I was very focused on corporate life,” says Rios, who works for Export Development Canada.

After some arm-twisting, he signed up for a course at the Running Room and begin training. He surprised himself by running the half-marathon, and completing it in an hour and 53 minutes.

Today, the 36 year old runs thousands of kilometres every year and helps people along the way, mentoring new runners and fundraising for different charities.

“I’m really driven by the people,” Rios explains.

This weekend, he’ll be joined on the half-marathon course with two friends running in the event for the first time.

“What I love about Ottawa Race Weekend is there are so many kids out on the sidelines,” he says, adding that his goal is to high-five every kid he passes. “People say it will slow you down but it’s completely the opposite. It makes you go faster. Their energy, their enthusiasm — they think you’re like a rock star.”

Rios usually runs in a Team Diabetes jersey, raising money and awareness to fight a disease that’s plagued his family for generations. Since he began running in 2009, Rios has raised more than $14,000 for the cause.

At Ottawa Race Weekend, however, he’ll be running for Team Mito, a group raising money and awareness for mitochondrial disease. Rios says the decision to temporarily switch teams was inspired by a friend’s young son who had the rare disease.

“My running is no longer about running for myself,” he says. “It’s about running for others and running for a cause.”

Rios combined his passions for people, running and charity last summer when he started Run 4 A Cause. The 5-kilometre run encouraged both diehard runners and first-timers to come out in support of a cause near to their heart. About 150 people participated in the event at the end of July, representing 10 charities.

“People from different countries have actually asked me, ‘Can I use your idea?’ from India to the Philippines to Germany. So I thought why don’t we just make it a day?” he says.

Rios is currently planning another Run 4 A Cause for late summer, and hopes to see similar runs around the world on the same day.

But first, he has a lot of other running to do. In July he’ll head to Queensland, Australia, to run the Gold Coast Marathon. The race is another step in a goal Rios set for himself in 2010: to run a marathon on every continent.

The Gold Coast Marathon will push him past the halfway mark, since he’s run races in North America, Iceland and Brazil. But the toughest is yet to come. Rios plans to run the Great Wall Marathon in China and the Antarctic Ice Marathon. He wants to cap the accomplishment by completing Marathon des Sables, a 250-plus kilometre race through the Sahara Desert.

To practice for such a feat, Rios will run the Sears Great Canadian Run from Rockcliffe Airport to Montebello in October. Usually done as a relay, Rios and about 25 others are planning to run the entire 100kilometres.

Training for the race will mean running 100 kilometres a week, a far cry from Rios’ life just a few years ago.

The difference, he says, comes from pushing yourself and simply trying.

For new runners, that means getting over the fear of failure.

“All it takes is to go outside and start walking and running,” he says.

Rios has heard every excuse in the book from people who say they want to run — I’m too busy, I haven’t run before, I travel too much. He’s proved them all wrong.

Rios likes to keep busy and also works part time as a fitness instructor for GoodLife Fitness. His full-time career is a demanding one as he travels about a third of the year. He always packs his black, white and lime green running shoes.

“To keep myself grounded, I never leave without my running shoes,” Rios says. “I’ve run in Dubai, I’ve run in Shanghai. I’ve run everywhere.”

And he’s not stopping any time soon.

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